Thousands of Australians could lose their jobs because of the Federal Government's latest "ideology-driven" decision not to invest in wind and small solar power projects, the head of the Australian Solar Council (ASC) says.

But ASC chief executive John Grimes said small business owners would be most affected by the change, saying the "tragic" decision would compromise thousands of jobs.

"There are about 18,000 people in Australia directly employed in the solar industry," he said.

"These are the jobs of rural and regional Australia and these are the jobs that we want to create. So, the Government is sabotaging the whole industry because of its ideology that we should burn more coal and we need to shut down the renewable sector."

Mr Grimes said the Government was "completely out of touch with the people of Australia" on the issue and vowed to "campaign hard" for policy change.

Small-scale solar energy installers labelled the Government's policy a "stupid" decision that was causing them to "move out of the solar industry".

Installing solar panels has been Richard de Bruin's livelihood for five years.

Because of the Government's decision, Mr de Bruin — the owner of R&R Solar Installations — is facing an even "bigger drop" in his revenue. It is a predicament that has forced him to explore alternative business ideas and axe the job of his own son.

"The uncertainty that we've had for the last six to 12 months has just really hurt the business to the effect that now we're moving to a new site, trying to find some more work," he said.

"I had three employees, now I've got two. I've got to keep the money coming in. If I can't get it through the solar I've got to find other ways."

Flow of money 'not there anymore'

Mr de Bruin said the number of stints provided by his contractors had significantly plummeted, therefore, rather than "working in solar we're moving out of solar".

"Currently we're doing some contracting for other companies. The two businesses that we've been flat out working for, one of them has given us one job this year in six months, we usually would get five jobs a week," he said.

"The other one has given us maybe 10 jobs for the last six months. Hence the reason we're looking to move to another industry.

"We're starting to work in wireless where we're putting up satellite dishes on houses and installing them. We've had to completely change what we're doing."